Dark Sector
Released in November of 2006, Gears of War was critically acclaimed for re-introducing the “cover system” style of game-play. Given the enormous amount of success enjoyed by that game, one would assume that any game making use of such a system would surely reap the same benefits; unfortunately for Dark Sector, that is not necessarily the case.
In Dark Sector, you play as Hayden Tenno, a covert operative who, shortly after the beginning of the game, becomes infected by what is called the Technocyte Virus. Although in most cases the virus causes its victims to mutate into horrific, mindless creatures, in this particular scenario it actually causes Hayden to gain superpowers, most noticeably the ability to spontaneously grow a three-bladed, projectile weapon (known in the game as a glaive) from his now-metallic arm.
The glaive, which acts as your primary weapon, can later on be imbued with various elements including fire, electricity and ice. These not only allow you to deal additional damage to enemies, but are also used for some light puzzle-solving, such as burning down barriers that cover doors, or returning power to an electric lock. The most useful of the glaive’s functions, which is unlocked early on in the game, is the ability to remotely control the glaive’s movement for a short period of time. During these sequences, time is slowed down, in the style of bullet-time, and you are given the opportunity to target enemies’ specific body parts. This ability is nifty at first, but soon becomes tedious, as certain puzzles require you to control the glaive to hit switches, and certain bosses require you to target weak points on their bodies. This seems all fine in theory, but quite often using this ability means leaving yourself out of cover, where you are vulnerable to enemies’ barrages of fire, not to mention attacks which will automatically kill you.
Other weapons, such a handguns and machine guns can be purchased and upgraded throughout the game by visiting black market stores. These can be accessed via manhole covers which are located in various locations throughout the game. Weapons are purchased by spending rubles you collect throughout the stages, while upgrades are free to apply. You do, however, have to locate the upgrades, which are hidden throughout the game inside briefcases you collect. Once again, this seems fine in theory, but the weapons you purchase are generally not that useful, nor are the upgrades you apply to them. Also, not to point out the obvious, but the way you access the stores seems kind of out-of-place.
As stated before, the game uses similar game-play mechanics as Gears of War, as it allows you to use cover during battle. It also allows you to roll forward, backwards, and side to side in order to evade enemies’ attacks; however, since all these maneuvers are mapped to the same button, you find yourself quite often rolling instead of covering and covering instead of rolling. The other problem with this system is it makes for clunky melee combat. You can perform melee attacks by bashing the “B” button, but those work rather ineffectively, and in most cases you find yourself blindly rolling all over the place in hopes of avoiding damage, quite often backing up into a corner or into a wall.
In the end, Dark Sector isn’t necessarily a horrible game, it’s just not a good game. Both the characters and the story are only mildly interesting, and the parts of the game which managed to grab my interest, were only able to do so for short periods of time. Tack onto this formula a multi player game which is mostly shallow and suffers due to bad connection management, and you have yourself a game that you can probably pass up. Then again, given the amount of hype this game had before it’s launch, you may still want to try it out for yourself.
